Thanksgiving should mean more!

Over the course of time the apparent attitude of humanity has changed!  Most people in the United States, set aside the fourth Thursday in November as a “Day of Thanksgiving.”  On December 26, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday.  However, this was certainly not the beginning of having a specific time consecrated as a day of thanksgiving!

As with most secular holidays, Thanksgiving is rooted in spiritual soil. Although often debated, it is clearly evident that the 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a devotion to God. Annual celebrations like that one were held always “giving thanks to God.”  As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nation-wide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God”.

Sadly today the celebration of Thanksgiving has degraded into a secular tradition that is more about the beginning of the Christmas shopping season with “Black Friday” (and even Thursday) deals than about an actual conscious decision to express thanksgiving to God.  This is certainly an inditement on the hearts of humanity.

If you have read this far, I want to ask you, “For what are you most thankful?”  Take a moment and jot down the three things for which you are most thankful.  Then, when you sit down to your meal tomorrow, even if you are not a particularly   religious person, share these things with those around you.

Once you have done this, bow your head and humble your heart and verbalize these things to God in prayer.

As for me, I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price for redemption of all who believe!

I am thankful for my family — a wonderful wife, sweet daughters, and precious grandchildren.

I am thankful for the opportunity afforded me to share the Word of God with people around the globe — many of whom have never before heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ!